Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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20. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the North Sea Summit. [20297/23]

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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21. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the North Sea Summit. [21501/23]

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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22. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the North Sea Summit. [21502/23]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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23. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the North Sea Summit. [21486/23]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 to 23, inclusive, together.

I attended the North Sea Summit in Ostend, Belgium, on Monday, 24 April. There I joined the Prime Ministers of Belgium and Denmark, the President of France, the Chancellor of Germany, the Prime Ministers of Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway and the President of the European Commission. The summit was a valuable opportunity to engage with leading global champions of offshore wind, share insights and learn from best practice.

Climate change is the most pressing global challenge of our time, and the science is indisputable: we must break the link with fossil fuels. The urgency of action has been reinforced by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We must see climate change not just as a burden but also as an opportunity.

The summit demonstrated our collective commitment to accelerating the transition to a green and sustainable energy future. Leaders signed the Ostend Declaration, which commits to accelerating the deployment of offshore renewables and improving connectivity within the north seas. It is crucial that we work together when it comes to issues such as port capacity as well as interconnection and grid capacity.

I had the opportunity to hear from industry representatives and I chaired a round-table discussion focused on how best to deepen cross-country co-ordination and co-operation.

After the summit, leaders also met over dinner and discussed a number of international issues, including the situation in Ukraine.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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It would be important, in the context of our own decarbonisation and our role in decarbonising the wider European Union energy system, to have our own affairs in order and to realise the potential of our renewables. This morning, on "Morning Ireland", Dr. Frank Crowley of University College Cork, UCC, reporting on EU-funded research, was scathingly critical of the Government and, using a term the Taoiseach himself has used, called us laggards and pointed to a failure to engage with the sector. At the same time, Marie Donnelly of the Climate Change Advisory Council, CCAC, was on "Newstalk Breakfast" sounding the alarm bells as regards planning, including for offshore and onshore renewables, and the repowering of onshore. Tomorrow we will report the highest offshore costs in Europe. That is reflective of the fact that we have the highest renewables costs generally. Is the Taoiseach aware of and concerned about these alarm bells being rung? Will he outline a plan for investment in ports? Will he bring forward a cost-of-renewables task force? Sinn Féin has published legislation in that regard. Will he outline how he will address those barriers in the planning system?

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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It is great that the Taoiseach was able to attend the summit in Ostend with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. As the Taoiseach said, the development of offshore wind energy is so important in order to tackle climate change and decrease our dependence on imported fossil fuels. The Taoiseach also considered at the summit the provision of offshore grids and electricity interconnection, and that is obviously very relevant to Ireland within the EU. Offshore wind has enormous potential for Ireland, given our unique advantages.

I have two questions. Can the Taoiseach confirm that the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, is bringing forward the necessary planning framework to facilitate the development of floating offshore wind projects and that it has recruited the necessary skills to do that? Also, are the necessary steps being taken to ensure that our commercial ports are fit for purpose to accommodate these developments?

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I wish to return also to the issue of offshore wind. I have raised already the frustration among stakeholders with the delays in getting the infrastructure up and running, particularly for floating offshore wind. We constantly hear from the Government about the enormous potential of offshore wind, but there has been such immense delay in getting these projects started. What is the State doing to speed up publicly owned offshore wind projects. Is the ESB appropriately resourced to speed up development? It says it has plans for 5 GW of offshore wind, but how close are we to getting ESB projects approved and constructed, and can we say for sure that consideration has been given to the royalties, lease payments or taxation of the windfalls operators will make? I am looking at the British approach, whereby we see the Crown Estate making huge profits from new offshore wind farms by leasing sites, with a £1 billion surge this year alone. I think there are examples elsewhere that we can use as to how money can go back to the public purse from the generation of more offshore wind.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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It has been said here that we are laggards as to where we need to be as regards the delivery of offshore wind. Many of us have spoken about the fact that we could be a wind superpower. I have heard experts state we could change the entire energy map of Europe, but that matters only if we have the capacity. What are the Government's plans to ensure we have the auctions, planning framework, ports, grid capacity and all the other pieces necessary for a fit-for-purpose system? Are we looking at the State taking an element of public ownership in relation to what should be a windfall across the board?

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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Was there any discussion at this summit about Nord Stream, in particular the blowing up or destruction of Nord Stream, which had such devastating impacts on people, with the increase in gas prices which was a consequence, and the largest single discharge of methane the world has ever seen, with significant environmental consequences? It seems that nobody is really interested in finding out who is responsible. There was a recent vote at the UN Security Council whereby the US and several of its allies abstained on a motion in order to block a resolution providing for an independent international investigation to find out who was responsible. Was that discussed at the summit? Does the Irish Government agree with the idea of an independent international investigation and will it support efforts to create one?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputies for their questions.

When it comes to renewable energy, I do not accept that we are laggards at all. We now produce about 40% of our electricity from renewable energy. That is a lot higher than many other countries. I think what happens sometimes - and it is understandable - is that people who are in a particular subsector or niche see things from their perspective and not from the wider perspective. Often, people who promote floating offshore wind energy see only that. They do not see that there is more to offshore wind energy than floating. They do not see that there is onshore or solar. If we look at things from the point of view of the public interest, we should look at them in the round. Of course, it made sense in Ireland for us to do onshore first. That is why we will do offshore later. Onshore was the quickest, least expensive and most efficient way to do it. Other countries that are more densely populated or have different geography were not able to do as much onshore as we did so they went offshore. That is the way we need to see it. As I mentioned earlier, during one period in recent weeks, 10% of our electricity came from solar. A lot more can be done there, and pretty quickly. Solar can be done very quickly. We will have huge amounts of solar energy in Ireland before the first new offshore wind farm is built because it can be done in months or a couple of years rather than five to seven years, which is probably how long offshore and floating offshore will take.

I am aware of the reports in the Sunday papers about us having the highest cost. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, briefed me on that and informed me it is not the case. Perhaps we are not comparing like with like. I understand that in the UK, for example, the price that is paid for the electricity is index-linked and, therefore, goes up every year whereas we are not going to do that. It might cost more at the start but because it is not index-linked, it gets cheaper over time, if that makes any sense. I will let the economists work out the details of that. The Minister assures me that we are getting a fair price.

Deputy Haughey asked about MARA. The answer to the question is "Yes". I know the authority is recruiting but I do not want to swear to that at the moment. I will make sure the Deputy gets a detailed reply from my office about that.

On the ports, €250 million is going into Rosslare Europort, with more investments to come. We need to invest in our ports. When it comes to public ownership it is best done through our State-owned enterprises like ESB, for example. That is going to happen.

There were no discussions specifically on the Nord Stream pipeline. However, we obviously did have a discussion on the security of pipelines into the future and also undersea cables to make sure they are designed in such a way that they are not easy to tamper with.